I’m going through a mix of vacation time and my AFI addiction surging at the same time, so bear with me… I’ve been researching… did this ever happen? (taken from their Facebook page in 2013)

A completely redesigned Despair Faction community is in the works, and it will be launching in January, 2014. In addition to an updated forum, the new site will add features such as live chat, exclusive photos and videos, periodic contests and giveaways, access to ticket pre-sales, VIP packages and exclusive Despair Faction merch items. Follow the link below to sign up for a Deluxe or Premium Level membership ahead of the site’s 2014 launch, and gain access to exclusive Despair Faction merch.

I do remember them saying that the Despair Faction website and forums would be revamped. I was pissed off that you would have to pay just to gain access to the forums unless you were already DF. And there was all this drama and confusion about how to transfer your old membership. I didn’t follow them very much around this time, I had only sporadically checked the forums, which weren’t very active since like 2007, between say early 2007 - 2013.

I don’t want to be the one to say it, but honestly…I really think the band couldn’t care less. I don’t think they care in the way they used to. They haven’t for quite a long time. I guess they feel they don’t want or need the DF anymore. Sad, but not really much we can do.

I disagree with this only because Adam was also tweeting about the DF reopening.

Simply put, there’s gotta be a way for AFI fans to gather online, to unite. If it ends up being a massive Facebook following, sure… but there’s gotta be a way. Hell, Davey even said recently in an interview that the Blood Tour was one of, if not their BEST tour to date. Obviously, that means the crowd outcomes at the shows.

I don’t mean they don’t care at all, I mean I don’t think they care about how the DF was before. Like, I don’t know, I’ve heard Adam and Hunter mention that they would like for the site to be back up, the boards, the way it used to be, but the few times I’ve read or heard about them talking about it, it just sort of seems to be wishful thinking, like there’s no real plan behind bringing them back. I’m not sure if the same could be said for Davey and Jade. I’ve never heard them talk about it since like 2009. It could be that for whatever reason, they have very little or no control over it, and I’m guessing that’s part of it, but it feels to me like they’ve purposely distanced themselves. Or rather, they’ve “grown apart” and it doesn’t really bother them…

What about the meet and greets? The sound checks? Exclusive content aside from overpriced merch packages? If there have been in the last 8-10 years, and I don’t know about it, please enlighten me. You could always make the argument that they’re busy or whatever, but that seems like a very…ah…pedestrian explanation. I mean you can think what you want, this is just my feeling and observation.

I remember right before the boards went down for good, it was right before Burials dropped, and myself and like a half dozen other fans were on there trying to decode what we believed to be hidden messages in those black and white videos they made, and it turned out to not mean anything, it was just promotion. Something made me feel annoyed by that, like they knew we’d all be freaking out thinking it was another mystery or contest or something five flowers or begin transmission, but it didn’t mean anything. It really felt like we had been led on and sort of…manipulated, almost, like they’d exploited our curiosity on purpose, and then a lot of us felt really foolish, myself included.

That’s fine if you don’t agree with me. I’d like to be able to share my opinion though, without someone jumping on my back. I accepted that the old forums wouldn’t be coming back a long time ago. I do admire your efforts in trying to bring something like that back, though. It would be great.

I also think the fans need to take control over whatever might be left of the DF proper if that’s at all possible, and I think you’re doing a great job with these forums and seriously, thank you for creating them. I would never be able to keep up with it. That takes a serious amount of time and dedication.

Wow, thanks for your insight on many items. Like I said, Adam told me he thought it would be neat if there was a place where fans could meet, but yeah, it might just be wishful thinking on their part.

I dropped out of the online AFI scene from like 2007 till Feb 2017… or something like that. I remember driving to the store to get Crash Love back in '09 (at Walmart) and LOVED Torch Song, but yeah I didn’t really follow AFI online as much. I was also neck deep in my other forum that I actually created in '09 (still running to this day w/ over 2.2 million posts).

Do you remember what the forums looked like before they were taken down? Are they on the web archive? Also, don’t take me disagreeing with you the wrong way… I meant no harm or anything bad by it. I certainly didn’t mean to make it sound like I was jumping on your back.

Well, these forums are nothing without you and everyone else on them, so let’s just continue doing our best to make them grow and do what we can to tell other AFI fans about these forums.

I sort of went away in like mid/late 2006, I missed most of five flowers and came back sort of right before the end of it…then I don’t even think I posted on there again until 2013. A lot of really bad stuff was happening at that time, I was really sick, I dropped out of college, etc. I was sort of dead but alive. I don’t remember very much from those years. It’s like an empty gap in my memory. In 2013 the forums still had the CL skin, so it looked like they hadn’t even been updated for like 4 or 5 years. There was very little activity, maybe like 10 or so fans would post per day at most, but when those videos came out there was this huge scramble of us all on there for hours at a time listening and listening again to the audio tracks and trying to figure out what the symbol things meant. I’ve tried to access some old topics and stuff in the archive, but no matter what year or post I choose, I always get an error message. It looks like I can only see the front page/dashboard.